Town Square

U.S. Rep. Eshoo votes to defund NSA phone program

Original post made
on Jul 24, 2013

U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo (CA-18) voted in favor today of an amendment to this year's defense spending bill that would require the National Security Agency (NSA) to limit its information-gathering to subjects of national security investigations, rather than all Americans.

Posted by CrescentParkAnon.
a resident of Crescent Park
on Jul 25, 2013 at 10:54 am

Defunding anything in the NSA is an interesting proposition, which I doubt means anything, and I doubt would get done if it did mean anything, and if something somehow just happened to get done it would not be what a reasonable person would have expected and probably would end up even more intrusive. Way to go Anna. ;-)

Posted by neighbor
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jul 25, 2013 at 12:34 pm

Isn't there a system whereby a representative votes against a bill that they know will fail to pass, in order to be popular and look good? (or the reverse)
This measure failed to pass - surprise, surprise
I don't know where Congresswoman Eshoo stands on this and what motivated her voting, so I am not necessarily alleging that in this case, but one wonders
Isn't this what Obama did, in another way, by voting "present" when he was in the Illinois state legislature - how convenient.
How about if our representatives at all levels of government represent we the people better by protecting our rights - that's something I would appreciate.

Posted by neighbor
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jul 25, 2013 at 12:37 pm

Sorry, I didn't write that very well. What I was pondering was whether some members of Congress might vote FOR this measure to limit NSA data collecting methods ALL THE WHILE knowing the bill would fail to pass, as government rarely turns on itself and limits itself in any fashion, thereby (the members of Congress who used this system)are able to enjoy popularity with us voters/the people all the while NOT DOING ANYTHING MEANINGFUL to protect our rights! - How convenient.
Well, I (half-heartedly)tried, they can say.

Posted by no win
a resident of Downtown North
on Jul 25, 2013 at 1:04 pm

"How convenient."

So those that vote for intrusive government surveillance and hacking of phones are bad.

And according to you, those that have long spoken out against it, and vote against it, are just as bad? That's a rather interesting collection of synapses you have there. (Also nice the way you mysteriously inserted the Obama vote from years ago, even though their is zero relevance.)

Do the wrong thing - bad. Speak out against wrong, and do the right thing? Also bad(!). Glad you weren't my parent.

Posted by right = correct
a resident of Midtown
on Jul 25, 2013 at 7:03 pm

"... the House very narrowly defeated the amendment by Reps. Justin Amash (R-MI) and John Conyers to scale back the NSA's surveillance power to the letter of the Patriot Act law. The final vote was 205-217. The amendment was shepherded to the floor by leadership, reportedly, because of a groundswell of Republican lawmakers who demanded the vote. Ninety-four Republicans supported the amendment, along with 111 Democrats."